WEC 44 bonuses: Aldo, Roller, Swanson and Franchi earn $10,000 awards

WEC 44 bonuses: Aldo, Roller, Swanson and Franchi earn $10,000 awards

LAS VEGAS – In addition to a featherweight championship belt, newly crowned WEC title-holder Jose Aldo will return home to Brazil with a $10,000 bonus check.

Aldo earned the “Knockout of the Night” award, Shane Roller picked up the “Submission of the Night” bonus, and Cub Swanson and John Franchi each nabbed a “Fight of the Night” check for their performances at Wednesday’s “WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo” event. Each bonus was worth $10,000.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) learned of the winners and award
amounts in the post-fight press conference for WEC 44, which took place
at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and aired on
Versus.

In the night’s Versus-televised headliner, Aldo topped former champ Mike Brown with a second-round TKO. After forcing the fight to the mat and taking his opponent’s back, Aldo postured up and rained down a couple dozen unanswered blows to force the TKO stoppage 80 seconds into the round.

Roller, meanwhile, used a late-fight surge to force fellow wrestler Danny Castillo into submission. After two competitive rounds, Castillo came out strong for the third round and scrambled successfully to take dominant top positions. However, after taking his opponent’s back, Roller locked in his hooks and slapped on the fight-ending rear-naked choke.

Competing on the night’s preliminary card, Swanson’s bout with Franchi was the only un-aired fight to end via stoppage. After 14 minutes and 50 seconds of fast-paced action, Swanson finally ended it with a guillotine choke in the waning seconds of the fight.